A.N: Well, hello all. Some of you may be thinking "why the hell is she starting a new fic when she hasn't updated Nightbloom?!" Well...because I'm evil like that. Mua ha ha ha. Part of why I haven't been on here alot is:

1. School Started. I gots homeworkie and other evil crap.

2. I gots a new kitteh. Her name is Emmy Kay. (My other cat is Misty Lin) She's been sick though, we rescued her from a shelter so she wasn't in perfect health, poor baby. She's doing much better now though, thank God.

3. I am super, uber lazy.

So, yosh. This thing popped into my head when I was on and the word 'ambivalent' came up. I thought of Sasuke's relationship with Naruto almost immediantly. Later, I had a dream about Naruto and Sasuke that was...interesting. Then, I was in the shower, when an up and coming scene (not in this chapter) hopped into my head and wouldn't leave till I typed it. But it was for a middle chapter. And I liked it so much I wanted to write a beginning. Thus, this came up. Enjoy.

Discaimer: Don't own Naruto, It belongs to the genius Kishimoto. If I did own it well...heh heh.

It would be impossible. He had given up, not on killing his brother of course. He had given up on the revival of his clan. He found that it would be hopeless to ever revive it. Even if he did find some woman to bare his children...She could only give him so much. The great Uchiha clan had consisted of over fifty people. There was no way a women could give him fifty children. He would have to have multiple women bearing his children...perhaps ten. He detested that idea . True, it may appeal to some other man his age, but the heir had never had desires to be involved in polygamy. If he did find some women he thought worthy...he'd be satisfied with four children... more if she was willing.

Also even if he did somehow manage to coax fifty children out of some women, the babies would not be strong at all. What if Itachi found out? He'd kill all of them for sure. Sasuke did not think he could lose his whole world a third time. The first time, his family and clan had been brutally torn away from him. The second...he wasn't going to think about that.

Sasuke, had given up though. Yes, he would kill his brother, then he would probably die himself taking the Uchiha clan with him. Though he didn't show it outwardly (for his teammates were near by) the idea saddened him immensely. He had wanted to have children...he had never gotten along well with kids but he was sure he would have loved and cherished his own. He was dejected and slightly distressed at his epiphany and wished he had instead been fantasizing on how Itachi's blood would splatter on walls and ceilings.

He looked at his teammates mutely. Juugo appeared to be in deep conversation with a red bird perched on his shoulder, while Karin and Suigetsu exchanged verbal barbs at each other. Sasuke mentally sighed. It was going to be a long, long day. He turned his apathetic black eyes to the sky, remembering the days that he could laugh.

Naruto would look back on this day and forever wish that he had chosen to ignore the summons and simply snuggled under the covers of his bed and slept the day away, unconcerned that Lady Tsunade may kill him (or at least beat him over the head with a sake bottle) for his refusal of her orders.

But no, instead when the bird landed on his window sill (Naruto had left it open because it was autumn and the air smelled crisp and clean this time of year) the blond had gotten out of his chair (he had been eating his usual breakfast of ramen, today beef flavored) walked over to the bird and gingerly took the letter off of it's leg giving the animal a piece of meat for it's labor. The hawk made a sound of gratitude and flew off (Naruto assumed) back to the bird hutches.

The teen scratched his back as he read the letter

Uzumaki Naruto

You are being summomed for a mission. please organize your team of Haruno Sakura, Sai and Kakashi. Then report to Godaime-sama.

Shizune

Naruto grinned, things had been a bit slow lately and he had been bored. He used his free time to train with Lee and was actually learning shogi from Shikamaru but he had been getting restless. He had wanted to go on a mission, but as of late Tsundade had been a bit reluctant to send him on jobs any higher than a C rank. It had begun to irritate the blond to the point that three days ago he had stormed into her office. Tsunade had raged back at him as he yelled at the Hokage and Shizune had to leave the room because of the blunt objects the two fire tempered blonds were throwing around the room.

Naruto had pulled out his trump card though. Stating if Tsunade was going to waste his time with pointless missions that weren't making him stronger, he would just leave the village and pick up his hunt for Sasuke from where he had left off. Tsunade had fumed and began screaming unintelligibly with only a few choice phrases such as ' I'll break your legs so you can't leave' (Naruto responded that he would crawl with his hands )'missing nin' and 'rip your spine out and shove it up somewhere unpleasant' could be understood clearly.

The teenager had held his composure together stubbornly all the while glaring his azure eyes into her own chestnut colored ones. The younger blond knew he had won the battle. He was far too precious to Tsunade for her to let him gallivant blindly about the country let alone be looking for a young adult male who had promised to kill him next time they met. He knew that she loved him dearly and tried to protect him as best she could. Knowing this, Naruto had turned her own feelings against her to win the situation in his favor. It was a bit below the belt, but Naruto was bored and desperate. Never a winning combination for an adolescent male, never mind a hyperactive one who was only happy when he felt he was moving around and doing something useful with his time.

In the end the Godaime had (grudgingly) agreed to send Naruto on more 'engaging' missions.

Sai let the ink brush flow loosely down the page then swept it to the right. He was beginning to paint a large oak tree, lately he had been leaning a bit more towards nature these days. And a few weeks ago, he had painted a Cherry Blossom tree in full bloom with sakura flowers and given that to Sakura. He remembered the delighted look she'd given him and in return had given him several new canvases. After that he'd decided to paint a picture for the rest of his teammates. Kakashi was difficult, he didn't want to paint a scarecrow for his name sake. Instead he'd painted a forest of bamboo, climbing up to the sky. Kakashi had seemed pleased and the next day gave him a jar of good quality ink. Besides Sakura, Naruto was the easiest. Sunflowers seemed the most appropriate for the teenage boy. So only a few days ago he had painted a clump of sunflowers standing in a field together and given the painting to Naruto.

He remembered the blond's expression the most. Naruto had looked at the painting with an expression Sai had never seen before on a person. "For me?" was all he'd said. Sai had been so confused by the blond's reaction he could only nod. Did he hate it? Was that why he was shaking? The young ninja held the painting carefully but tightly, afraid to drop it. When Naruto looked up at Sai, he had another unrecognizable expression on his face. Naruto transferred the painting to his right arm, holding it securely. He then lifted up his left arm. Sai for one split second thought the blond was about to punch him, but remained still as stone. Naruto's actions were peaking his curiosity and the brunette wanted to see the end of them...even if it ended in pain for him. Instead of punching the artist though, Naruto hooked his left arm around Sai's neck, pulling his body towards Naruto. Sai played this out, several questions perking up in his mind but didn't voice any of them, lest Naruto stop whatever it was he was doing. The blond had rested his cheek against Sai's neck for a moment. The brunette felt a shudder go through the blond's body and a sound that was strangely akin to what Sai knew as a sob. Naruto moved his mouth up to Sai's ear.

"Thank you"

And just as suddenly as Naruto had held him, he released Sai and leaped off into the general direction of his apartment.

It had left a very dumbstruck and confused Sai standing there in the middle of the training grounds. He hadn't understood Naruto's reaction at all. Both Sakura and Kakashi had both seemed gladdened with the gift. They had made the correct face motions (though Kakashi's had been obscured by his mask) for 'happiness' and 'gratitude' their postures had been relaxed and showed that they were content and pleased as well as open. Sakura had made a sound of girlish delight, Kakashi had made an approved happy noise.

Naruto on the other hand, had a shocked expression...but after that all the other expressions, Sai could not recognize for he had never seen them in a book before. Naruto's posture had been odd too. He had been rigid, and shaking. The sounds he emitted were sounds of 'sorrow'. Sai didn't understand this, it made no sense at all to him. Not to mention Naruto suddenly putting an arm around Sai like that and pulling him towards the blond's body. Sai had never been touched like that...he'd had been put in similar positions during battle..a choke hold, a grappling move, an opponent attempting to break his neck, but Naruto's gesture had not been hostel at all...it had seemed...tender.

Strange. But not unwelcome.

However, what was more strange then the blond's attitude, was the gift he'd received the next morning. The only thing that showed any clear identity of who the giver was, was a simple white card with the words For Sai in familiar scratchy handwriting. Naruto...the artist thought.

The rectangular box was covered in black silk with an ornate patters of silver cranes flying towards a golden red sun above a threaded blue lake. Sai's eyes widened at the design and obvious craftsmanship of the container. Suddenly he felt a pang inside of himself. He hoped for some unexplained reason that there was nothing inside of the box. He lifted the lid up hesitantly, as though whatever was inside would explode the second he opened it.

The handles were made from a dark gray stone that shone and reflected his face like a mirror. The brushes were made from the fur from a very soft (but stiff haired) creature and the ring of metal that bound brush and handle together were made from a gold colored metal. Sai had arched one of his eyebrows, painting utensils were expensive already, and the thought that he'd never seen these in a store worried him. They had to be custom made.

Shit.

He still did not understand Naruto's reaction. He'd read in one of the books he'd studied that when a person receives a gift, they react happy, or pleasantly surprised or some other variation of gladness. Naruto had not. For some reason, Sai had trouble sleeping at night now. He would think of the boy's expression in his mind, the sounds he'd made. His warm breath on Sai's neck.

Sai looked at the box now. He didn't want to use the brushes, there were four in the box all in varying brush sizes and handle widths. He didn't want to ruin them, and didn't understand his logic. They were tools. Tools were meant to be used. So he should use them. So the end result was that the two sides of his mind clashed together and he would just stare at the box unsure of what to do. He turned away from it, lest he zone out and stare at it for twenty minutes. He did that often ever since he had received the gift. Whenever he snapped out of his foggy state he would always be rendered puzzled afterwards. Sai let out a exhale to steady himself, he took one of his regular bamboo brushes and was about to dip it in some ink-.

"SAI!! HEY SAI!! ARE YOU AWAKE?!"

The brunette paused his actions and stood up in one smooth movement. He crossed the floorboards ignoring the distinct creaking noise they made as he walked to the window. He peered outside to see Naruto, with a smile as bright as the sun.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?"

The blond's smile never left his face.

"We gotta mission! C'mon, we need to get Sakura-chan and Kakashi!"

Sai paused. This was unexpected...the teenager in front of his house seemed so happy. Tsunade-sama wouldn't have...would she?

"What rank?"

At this question, the blond's smile grew even wider.

"A B-rank!"

Sai arched a delicate black eyebrow. Interesting. This was not what he had expected. He had thought that the godaime would keep Naruto under lock and key...but not this. Though, truth be told, he was relieved. Sai had been glad for the mild vacation. He got to work on painting, but in turn he was thinking about a certain blond too much. And lately, his fingers had been twitching at his kunai...eager to be used in battle again. Maybe, a few more difficult missions were just what he needed. He'd see Naruto as a teammate and not a...mystery that needed to be solved.

Yes, a vacation from his vacation.

Yay, so first chapter's done.

For all of you who don't know, yes there is such thing as a sakura flower. It's a cherry blossom.

The handles on Sai's brushes are made from a very awesome stone called hematite. Don't know what it looks like? Wika or google it.

Thanks for reading, please review. constructive criticism is not only welcome, but wanted.

"OMG!!1! this story suxorz!!my frend can typ wae betterz then u! a munky wit dislexia can typ better den u!SASUSAKU 4evah!!"

the sentence above does not count as constructive criticism, and will be laughed at. I may also put it on my bio's 'funny quotes' page

For everyone else, I hoped you enjoyed the story. I'll update when I can.